Gun violence hits 40-year high in Colorado

Death rates also high

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

In the spring of 2019, as the state mourned the shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch and lawmakers began eyeing a raft of new firearms-related legislation, The Colorado Sun analyzed 38 years of state data on gun deaths.

At the time, The Sun found that 20,669 people died from firearmrelated injuries between 1980 and 2018, and the death rate, after dipping in the early 2000s, was on the rise.

Now, with the reverberations from a shooting at Denver’s East High School still ringing and lawmakers again hotly debating a slate of gun bills, The Sun decided to revisit that earlier analysis.

The number of those who have died from firearm-related injuries has increased, of course. Between 1980 and 2021 — the most recent year for which finalized mortality data is available — 23,493 people were killed by gunshot wounds, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

But more surprising is that the firearm-related death rate in 2021 was the highest since at least 1980. The new analysis shows the state recorded 18.2 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, far exceeding any other year in that time span. The previous high was in 1981, at 16.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

These numbers include all deaths caused by firearms — homicides, suicides, accidents and incidents where the intent cannot be determined.

Though still preliminary, the firearm-related death rate appears to have declined slightly in 2022. The state will likely have final data on 2022 deaths next month, and it is possible that the preliminary figure — 16.8 deaths per 100,000 people — could rise as more